five-finger discount.

during break, maggie stands before the vending machine with her purse in her arm and a mild tug of hunger in her gut. wheat thins sound good today, she thinks as her fingers absently reach for her wallet. how much is it, ninety cents?

a handful of seniors materialize in front of the adjacent machine. "i think i'll have doritos," the one named max remarks as he pulls out a dollar bill. a girl in the group, sara, smirks at him. "are you really gonna buy that? well, i'm getting bugles. that machine doesn't work"--she nods at the one in front of maggie--"but this one does." the machine in front of herself, that is.

with a sly smile, she kneels, places a wiry arm into the machine where the purchased food drops, reaches up, and grabs a bag of bugles from the bottom row. "who else wants something?"

the rest of the kids call out the names of their desired snacks as she plucks the packages from behind the rings at the front of each shelf. they're snickering, a little. they're snickering because they beat the system. they're snickering because the money the school loses in stolen vending machine merchandise means nothing to them. they're snickering because they can. "how often do you do this, sara?" one of the guys quips.

she just smiles, shrugs noncommittally, and reaches for the skittles.

a minute later, she rises; all of them have their chips and candy now. "anything more?" she checks. "okay, good."

the group is grateful for the saved dollars. "thanks, sara."

"no problem."

as they mosey away from the vending machines, chatting and laughing, maggie remains frozen where she stood before they arrived, eyes vacantly fixed seemingly at the twix bars. she'd feel like a goody-two-shoes if she bought those wheat thins after watching them steal so casually, as if there was no moral dilemma. but there was a moral dilemma. it was still wrong, she thinks as she shifts uncomfortably. how could she possibly follow suit?

sighing to herself, maggie steps away from the vending machine and heads back to class. she has lost her appetite.